Say “Flying Lotus” in Los Angeles and you’re already halfway to hipness. Say FlyLo, and you’re closer still. FlyLo, Flying Lotus, the artist formerly known as Steven Ellison, is a music producer, DJ, and electronic composer of the hippest, highest order right now.

His latest music, he says, “a collage of mystical states, dreams, sleep and lullabies.” A descent through the time ether that never loses the beat.

This hour, On Point: the music and the man of the moment, Flying Lotus.-Tom Ashbrook

Guests

From Tom's Reading List

New York Times "The record, released this month by the British label Warp, is of course libretto free, mostly dispensing with vocals in favor of complex, often orchestral arrangements."

NME "If Flying Lotus’ last album, ‘Cosmogramma’, was made in a galaxy far, far away, his fourth, ‘Until The Quiet Comes’, is his return to earth. If the last was about rhythm, the follow-up is about melody. If his past work gave you an electric shock, this one will blow your head apart. At times it’s a prog record, as it meanders and experiments. At other times, it’s psychedelic (see the tripped-out ‘DMT Song’ featuring Thundercat, a song about the drug dimethyltryptamine). But a nod to jazz is at its heart, and FlyLo doesn’t have to look far for that influence – his great-aunt and uncle were Alice and John Coltrane."

Pitchfork "Since Ellison's musical palette always circles back to the Eastern-tinged textures that infiltrated jazz when his great aunt Alice Coltrane was helping set the pace (assorted bells, harp plucks, the pings of steel and knock of wood), his music feels cosmic, bound to L.A. as a geographic idea but not necessarily of this earth."

Washington Post "For the last half-decade, Los Angeles-based producer Flying Lotus (real name: Steven Ellison) has been at the forefront of a mini-movement fusing instrumental hip-hop, electronica and cosmic jazz. Ellison became blog-beloved with his last album, 2010’s “Cosmogramma,” and while he’ll never be Skrillex, “Until the Quiet Comes” — with its harrowing trailer video that recently went viral and its buzzed-about Thom Yorke collaboration — may represent his best chance to connect with mainstream audiences."

Video

Check out this video from the new Flying Lotus album.

Here's "Putty Boy Strut" from the new album.

Playlist

“All In” (2012, Until the Quiet Comes)“See Thru to U” (feat. Erykah Badu) (2012, Until the Quiet Comes)“Massage Situation” (2007, Reset EP)“The Nightcaller" (2012, Until the Quiet Comes)“All the Secrets” (2012, Until the Quiet Comes)“Last Donut of the Night” by J. Dilla) (2006, Donuts)“Sri Rama Ohnedaruth” (1972, Lord of Lords)“Until the Quiet Comes” (2012, Until the Quiet Comes)“… And The World Laughs With You” (2010, Cosmagramma)“Electric Candyman” (2012, Until the Quiet Comes)“Getting There” (feat. Niki Randa) (2012, Until the Quiet Comes)“Putty Boy Strut” (2012, Until the Quiet Comes)“FLOTUS” (2012, SINGLE)